Disclosed is a low-profile card connector comprising a U-shaped housing; terminals mounted in the housing; and a card ejector comprising a rotary lever and an ejection rod for turning the rotary lever. The rotary lever comprises front and rear sections. The front section is contiguous with the rear section, and is in a plane lower and parallel to the rear section. The front section is rotatably fixed to the main body, and is covered by a cover member, which is assembled to the main body and the overlying front section of the rotary lever to be coplanar with the rear section of the rotary lever.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A card connector for connecting a memory card to an underlying printed circuit board comprising: a U-shaped insulating housing having a main body and two parallel longitudinal extensions integrally connected to and extending from opposite ends of the main body and defining a card cavity therebetween; a plurality of terminals mounted in the main body adapted to mate with corresponding contacts of the memory card; and a card ejector for ejecting a card from the card cavity, the ejector including a rotary lever rotatably fixed to the main body and an ejection rod for turning the rotary lever and causing ejection of the card, wherein the rotary lever includes front and rear sections, the front section being contiguous with the rear section and being at a level lower than the rear section such that the overall height of the card connector is equal to the height of the housing and the thickness of the rotary lever, and wherein the a cover member comprises upper and lower plates and a rear plate integrally connecting the upper and lower plates, wherein the upper and lower plates are assembled to the front section of the rotary lever and the main body such that the front section of the rotary lever and at least a portion of the main body of the insulating housing are sandwiched between the upper and lower plates.
2. A card connector according to claim 1 wherein the main body has a stud provided thereon, the rotary lever has an aperture formed in a center of the lever, and the upper plate of the cover member has an aperture formed therein, wherein the apertures are larger than the stud and accommodate the stud therewithin to assemble the cover member, the main body and the rotary lever.
3. A card connector according to claim 1 further comprising a traversing shell cover that partially covers the card cavity, wherein the shell cover is coplanar with the rear section of the rotary lever and the cover member.
4. A card connector according to claim 1 wherein the card connector further comprise the cover member assembled to the main body and to the front section of the rotary lever wherein the cover member is coplanar with the rear section of the rotary lever.
5. A card connector according to claim 4 wherein the rotary lever has an arc-shaped projection formed on a lateral edge of the front section that abuts the rear plate of the cover member, thereby functioning as a pivot fulcrum for the rotary lever.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
July 24, 2001
March 4, 2003
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